I cover both timepieces and other luxury items that interest me such as cars and technology. An unshakable interest in wrist watches mixed with a passion for curiosity afforded me the opportunity to make them my career. My website aBlogtoWatch.com is the highest-trafficked blog on timepieces, and I have been fortunate enough to write or have written for some of the most esteemed luxury, men’s interesting, watch, and gadget publications online and in print – including Luxist.com, TechCrunch, Departures International, and Centurion. My style is conversational, and I won’t bore you with needless technical talk or marketing lingo. I tell it like it is and attempt to share my passion with you. My goal is to get you interested in what I like. A lot of my time is spent traveling internationally to Europe to meet with esteemed watch makers and to get a hands-on look at many of the rare and interesting timepieces and items I write about.

10/03/2012 @ 8:04PM2,788 views

"Patrimony" Answers All Your Questions About Swiss Watch Making

A few years ago the Swiss watch brand Jaeger-LeCoultre launched a new slogan that read “Are you ready for a real watch?” The question made little sense to me as American who at a basic level considers anything you strap to your wrist that indicates the time with non-metaphysical properties to be a “real” watch. Perhaps what Jaeger-LeCoultre meant to say was “are you ready for what we consider to be a real watch?” Now that makes a lot more sense.

It got me thinking, what do the Swiss consider a real watch? We do seem to care about their opinion, especially those of us interested in high-end timepieces. Now, if you dig deep you’ll find endless variation on the design and execution of watches coming out of Switzerland – but perhaps not as wildly varied as you might see from Asia for example. The Swiss conform to certain “codes” as they refer to them, which dictate what a real watch should be. In a sense, they are highly dogmatic as they pursue their incredible level of dedication. One watch sums up their feelings on the matter perfectly and it comes from a very old brand called Vacheron Constantin.

Vacheron Constantin’s flagship watch collection is called the Patrimony. The collection bears a title which is a word the majority of us do not use regularly. Understand the meaning of the word patrimony and you will then precisely understand what the Swiss value in watch making.

Patrimony is a legal concept whereby an inheritance comes from one’s father. It is related to the term “patriarchal,” and in addition to physical property, can refer to traditions and birthrights. It is what your leader hands down to you, which you then have responsibility to hand down to the next person. It is exactly what constitutes the concept of “traditional Swiss watch making.” In Switzerland, applying the techniques and principles valued by the previous generations of watch makers into today’s watches is exactly what you want to be doing. Stray too far from the “rules” and you risk ruing the “authenticity” of your watch. Once reason Vacheron Constantin timepieces are valued by many people is because the brand was originally founded in 1755, and today produces many very traditional looking timepieces using a rather traditional techniques.

I am not trying to sell Vacheron Constantin watches – they do that enough on their own. I am simply using them as an example to discuss the meaning of the Patrimony watch collection name, and why it so well describes what they archetypal Swiss watch is all about.

Watches from brands such as Vacheron Constantin are expensive, often very expensive. Vacheron Constantin today is part of the larger Richemont Group of luxury brands. Still, it has its own manufacture facility where it makes movements. There, dozens of people sit each day and polish little parts no one but other watch makers will ever see. You’ll never open up a Rolls Royce to find that each part is polished by hand (or at all). Why do brands like Vacheron Constantin do this? Patrimony of course. Personally being able to tell the time was historically a luxury. All of the great watch makers snobs that such as myself idolize who died 200 years ago made luxury items. Those ancient beauties were made for the very rich because those were the only people who could afford the effort and talent required to produce historic timepieces. Today we don’t have that problem, but because of patrimony the Swiss still produce these items. They call it keeping tradition alive, and respecting the values that were set forth historically. To them a real watch must be made by certain people in a very certain way.

The Swiss even have something called the “Seal of Geneva.” It is a stamp placed on certain watch movements attesting to the fact that the place they were made and the manner of their production satisfies certain ideals set forth by the Swiss watch making authority (yes, such things do exist). The Seal of Geneva is a sort of consumer reassurance tool when brands want to promote certain watches as not just being Swiss, but being “real” Swiss watches. Recently the people governing the Seal of Geneva increase the requirements for watches to use the seal. The Seal of Geneva has more patrimony in it today than ever before.

Brands like Vacheron Constantin who have the Seal of Geneva on many of their watches wear it like a badge of honor. It takes a lot of work out of having to explain just how “really” Swiss their timepieces are to consumers. Only in a place where tradition and patrimony is so important would such a seal exist. The newest watch in the Patrimony collection is the latest piece in the brand’s collection to bear the seal. Whether or not that makes it a better watch is another question, but it is certainly more “Patrimony” than even.

This new pictured piece is the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle Self-Winding watch and it highlights the strengths and core look of the brand. It is almost verbal overkill to include both the terms “patrimony” and “traditionnelle” (traditional) in the name of the watch. I suppose Vacheron wants no confusion as to whether this is a “real” watch or not. The watch is 41mm wide in an 18k pink gold case with a simple yet satisfying silvered white dial that only offers the time via the hour and minutes. On the dial are matching 18k pink gold hands and hour markers. A dial like this would be at home on a pocket watch from a century or two ago with ease. Surprising or not, that same clean look is attractive today.

According to the tenets of the Seal of Geneva the watch case and movement must have a certain level of decoration and be produced in the Canton of Geneva. The Seal’s requirements however are more vast that just necessary decor – but it is telling that decor is a required item on the list. Again, these are luxury items which are not only designed to make their wearers look good, but to do justice to the brand’s themselves. They do after all have reputations the go back for over two centuries.

Inside the Patrimony Traditionnelle Self-Winding is a Vacheron Constantin produced caliber 1120 self-winding (automatic) mechanical movement. The watch design is a testament to keeping the old alive as well as keep “old” relevant. The tradition inherent in watch making is part of why mechanical watches are made today in Switzerland. An almost obsessive dedication to ensuring that historical values are recalled in contemporary times has caught the attention of aficionado types the world-over. Swiss watches are today more than ever a luxury because they are only partly about telling the time, and grossly overpriced if that is your only goal. Having said that, it would be a lie to suggest that all Swiss watch brands are equal in their patrimonous pursuits.

To some the traditional Swiss watch might seem boring or stuffy. To others the furtherance of classic design and an original manufacturing spirit (using some modern technology of course) is exactly what fuels their passion. In a real sense it is a sense of collective historical nostalgia and a desire for beautiful things without regard for cost that keeps the high-end luxury watch industry alive. In addition, the traditions and values that the Swiss take from their own cultural patrimony is what keeps the industry relatively pure. With that in mind you should understand not only what the traditional Swiss watch industry is all about, but exactly what they consider to be a “real” timepiece.

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